This application is a continuation of application Ser. No. 11/783,862 filed on Apr. 12, 2007.
The present invention relates to a breakaway utility pole, such as a highway light standard, which is embeddable, i.e., which can be embedded below ground.
There are numerous ways of mounting utility poles such as highway light standards. For example, the lower end of the pole can be bolted above ground to a foundation structure that is embedded in the ground.
Alternatively, the pole itself can be embedded. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,920,715 discloses a fiberglass pole whose lower end extends below ground and is attached by an adhesive bond within an embedded sleeve, which is embedded either directly within the soil or within embedded concrete. The pole is of the breakaway type in that the adhesive bond can be broken in response to the pole being subjected to a vehicular impact of predetermined magnitude, enabling the pole to be pulled from the sleeve by the impact.
One problem with fiberglass poles is that they are susceptible to deterioration by UV radiation and thus must be covered by a UV-resistant coating. However, if such a coating is damaged, e.g., when struck by lawnmowers or other objects, UV radiation can contact and cause deterioration of the epoxy component of the fiberglass.
It would be desirable to provide a novel breakaway utility pole of the embeddable type, especially a breakaway embeddable pole which avoids the above described shortcomings associated with fiberglass poles.